It has been estimated that as much as two-thirds of deceased soldiers in the US Civile War were killed not by bullets but by disease, with the most prevalent of those diseases being the intestinal illnesses diarrhea and dysentery. It was not clear, based on the established medical knowledge, exactly what caused these illnesses to flourish in military camps, but one physician by the name of James H. Salisbury suspected diet was the greatest culprit, and came up with his own solution.
Solenopsis invicta, the “Red Imported Fire Ant”, native to South America, has proven a tenacious and destructive pest in the United States, costing Americans billions of dollars every year. That is why, in the late 1950s, the United States embarked on an all out war against the six-legged menace.